Don't march or rally on boycott day, activists counsel region's immigrants

By CHRISTINA E. SANCHEZ

While unprecedented numbers of immigrants -- legal and illegal -- rallied for immigration reform last year, that is unlikely to happen locally on Tuesday, the first anniversary of the Great American Boycott.

Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties are expected to be among the few areas in the state not participating.

Some immigrant rights advocates in the three-county area, such as German Calderon, do not believe it is safe for immigrants to march in the streets.

"When you come out to the streets, you jeopardize the safety of people and their children," said Calderon, owner and editor of a monthly Spanish-language publication in Sarasota. "There are some subversive groups out there who do not have good intentions."

Calderon supports people who want to boycott by not going to school or work and not buying anything that day -- similar to last year -- to show how much the U.S. economy depends on them. But they should stay home, he said.

"They want people to disappear, so we'll disappear," said Calderon, a Mexican immigrant who moved to the United States in 1983.

Luz Corcuera, chairwoman of the Latino Community Network of Manatee County, thinks advocates should focus instead on immigration legislation currently before Congress.

"The task should not be to be out on the streets. The task should be to put pressure on lawmakers who have this immigration project before them on the table," Corcuera said. "I am opposed to having people out in the open and putting them at risk."

This summer, Congress is scheduled to take up a bill called the STRIVE Act (Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy).

Reaction to the STRIVE proposal, currently in the House, has been mixed. But many advocates say it is a start and far better than the strict bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., more than a year ago.

The bill focuses on securing the nation's borders before creating guest worker programs or legalizing immigrants. But it puts the undocumented on an earned path to citizenship.

President Bush also has laid out an immigration reform package. His measure would require illegal immigrants to go home, re-enter the United States legally and pay as much as $10,000 before they can become legal residents. Illegal immigrants also could get a renewable three-year work visa that would cost $3,500.

Wendy Vasquez, an advocate in Charlotte County, said migrant farmworkers are worried they won't be able to pay. "They are very afraid. They can't pay that money when they are only making $11,000 a year in the fields," she said.

Immigrant advocates in other parts of the state say the boycott should be celebrated publicly.

"We want to show the human face of people, and say real family values means not breaking families apart," said Jeannie Economos, an organizer with the Farmworker Association of Florida in Apopka.

Economos' group, in collaboration with other groups statewide, will rally Tuesday in downtown Orlando. Other rallies are planned in Tampa and Immokalee and in other states with large illegal immigrant populations.